2) Interim President: Mass displacements part of Indonesia’s business strategy in West Papua
3) Thousands displaced in latest West Papua violence: priest
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1) African, Caribbean and Pacific seek UN Rights access to Papua
7:44 pm on 7 September 2021
A major bloc of African, Caribbean and Pacific countries has written to the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights about their concern over West Papua.
Minister of Foreign Affairs Jeremiah Manele. Photo: Solomon Islands Government The letter from the Organisation of African, Caribbean and Pacific States requests "an urgent mission to West Papua to provide an evidence-based, informed report on the human rights situation" there.
The letter was sent by the President-in-Office of the OACPS Council of Ministers, Jeremiah Manele, the Solomon Islands Foreign Affairs Minister.
The OACPS says it recognise Indonesia's full sovereignity over West Papua.
However its Secretary-General Georges Rebelo Pinto Chikoti, reiterated "the unwavering commitment of the OACPS to human rights, the rule of law and democratic principles".
Chikoti acknowledged the work of the leaders of the Pacific Island Forum on the situation in West Papua, saying that in keeping with the principles of subsidiarity and complementarity, the African, Caribbean and Pacific group would continue to receive updates and guidance from the Forum
Two years ago, Pacific Forum leaders agreed to press Indonesia to allow the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (ONHCR) into Papua region.
The regional body is seeking an independent report on extensive alleged human rights abuses in Papua
In the past few years, the ONHCR repeatedly requested access, and Jakarta has reportedly broadly agreed, however a visit is yet to materialise.
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2) Interim President: Mass displacements part of Indonesia’s business strategy in West Papua
September 7, 2021 in Statement
I am really sad to hear from the ground in West Papua that 2,400 civilians have been displaced from 19 villages as a result of renewed Indonesian military operations in the Maybrat Regency. The situation there is now becoming similar to Nduga and Intan Jaya, where over the past several years over 50,000 West Papuans have been displaced.
Maybrat is a peaceful place. The violence we are seeing now is a result of Indonesian state attempts to clear the local people and grab the gold and minerals that lie under the Earth.
I have been stating for a long time that Indonesia’s military operations are not about ‘sovereignty’, but business. Now, Indonesia’s own NGOs have confirmed this. New reports from WALHI Papua, LBH Papua, KontraS, Greenpeace Indonesia and several other groups have noted the deep links Indonesia’s retired generals, Kopassus officers and intelligence chiefs have with resource extraction projects in West Papua. Powerful Indonesian leaders like Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan, Maritime Affairs Minister, hold direct interests in the Wabu Block gold concession in Intan Jaya, where huge military operations have forced thousands of people from their homes. The military operations are attempts to wipe out entire villages and clear the way for illegal mines. They are killing us because we are Black, because we are different. This is state-sponsored terrorism.
Given these economic interests, we cannot trust the reports of the Indonesian police and military whenever one of their own is killed. We already know that Indonesia has a long history of killing its own officers and troops in order to justify its military presence and clear West Papuans off the land. It is likely that the latest killings of officers in Maybrat are the work of elements of the Indonesian state itself.
The military men’s presence in the region is illegal. Their presence is part of Indonesia’s business interests, part of their illegal colonial occupation of my land. The 1969 Act of No Choice was illegal, it was not done by one man one vote as required by the 1962 New York Agreement. The UN did not endorse what happened, it only ‘took note’ following fierce opposition led by Ghana in the UN General Assembly. Indonesia cannot claim that its invasion of West Papua is a done deal – it is not. It is the root cause of all the issues we see today. Indonesia has no right to send any more military to West Papua, to build the Trans-Papua Highway, or to construct any more military posts.
This issue will never end until the President of Indonesia sits down at the table with me to find a solution for the good of West Papua and Indonesia, to hold a referendum on independence. To achieve this, Indonesia must listen to the will of 84 countries and allow the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights into West Papua immediately. If the international community wants to help end the bloodshed in my homeland, it must act to ensure this visit happens.
Benny Wenda
Interim President
ULMWP Provisional Government
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3) Thousands displaced in latest West Papua violence: priest
9:01 pm on 7 September 2021
Reports from West Papua indicate thousands of people have fled their homes to the jungle after the latest deadly violence in Maybrat regency.
Pro-independence fighters with the West Papua Liberation Army have been blamed for killing four Indonesian soldiers on an attack on a military post in Maybrat last week.
It's the latest violent in a series of attack by the Liberation Army in its ongoing campaign against the Indonesian state in Papua region.
As Indonesian security forces mounted a hunt for the killers in Maybrat, many local villagers feared getting caught up in the armed conflict
Reverend Bernadus Baru, the director of the Augustinian Justice & Peace Office in nearby Sorong said people from at least fifteen villages have taken flight in Maybat.
"So the many people there are now replaced, they moved to the jungle from the movement or the mobilisation of the military coming," he said, estimating that up to five thousand people had been displaced.
"They're worried, the people are worried, because they don't have the security from the government."
Reverend Bernadus said that in the coming days he and two other Papuan priests would go into the affected region to talk with affected communities, and urge military figures to pull back from violence.
"So we want to meet the head of the military. We're going to talk with them, we just say you don't make violence with the people, with the women and the children."
Other Papuan regencies where attacks involving the Liberation Army have occured since 2018 include Intan Jaya, Puncak Jaya, Nduga and Yahukimo.
The Liberation Army has previously warned civillians in some regions where it has declared as war zones that their safety cannot be guaranteed.
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